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The Employees
Description The Employees (also known as the Stuffed Shirts or the Paper Pushers) are The Office Space's alternative to humans. They are identical in appearance and in clothing to a normal office resident, except their eyes seems to make the viewer aware of their non-human nature. They appear to be made of densely layered sheets of paper. Their appearance appears to be based off real humans who preside within the office. This is consolidated by the appearance of "not-Jerome", a dungeon recreation of a person mutually known by both James and Anesh. Abilities Despite their seeming lack of armour or strong appendages, Employees have all the same physical advantages as a human. They only make movements that would be regarded as "office-specific", such as striding instead of running and handshakes instead of armholds. They are also capable of bending their bodies in ways that would be impossible for a human, as demonstrated in the fight against Jerome. They are also seemingly the strongest dungeon entity, their strength displayed in their ability to snap Anesh's arm with a single handshake. They possess the ability to use purple Orbs as a method of enforcing laws and creating compliance Memes in the target. This ability was displayed when Jerome used a purple orb to enforce the Office's seeming "no weapons on company grounds" policy on James, preventing him from using his hand axe, crowbar or sledgehammer in combat for two full Office runs, before it was devoured by Secret. They are highly agile, and coupled with their strength, they are a near unsurmountable force. Imagining that "not-Jerome" was just a "paper pusher", this could have substantial effects on the strength of future iterations (see Forms for more detail) The one saving grace is their seeming lack of sapience, in direct contrast to their humanoid form. They are limited to combat actions that are considered "office appropriate", severely limiting their combat capability. They are also bound by the Office's rules, and as such can not use tools as weapons, making their capability in some situations even lower than that of the Striders. Behaviour These Employees share none of their behavioural traits with their real life counterparts, appearing to be regimented in their actions by tasks and "Rules", which they can enforce with purple Orbs, or seemingly by force of statement alone. They seem to have no direct sapience, acting seemingly like a programmed "perception" of what an Employee should be. It is unknown whether this idea is enforced by The Office Space itself. The only drop gained from an Employee was the "lava lamp" orb, seemingly the biggest orb thus far and the first multicolour orb in the series. Forms There has only been two encounters of the Employees, the first being unidentified and the second being "Jerome". It was previously theorised that the form of the Employees is related to the people they are based off. This theory is cemented as fact by the appearance of Jerome, as specified in the Description. This does bring to mind the existence of "ranks" inherent within most dungeon creatures and whether this applies to the Employees. If so, this may be inherently linked to their original's position in the real world. Trivia * The second species to severely injure Anesh's arm. * The first species too fast to dodge without the use of the Dungeon Coffee buff. * Despite their first appearance being over five chapters earlier, the first fight against an Employee was in chapter 25, making it the highest ranking dungeon creature in terms of time from reveal to fight. * Their faces double as Paper Masks, slightly raising their combat capability.